Research led by School of SSESW academic Anne Campbell, in collaboration with Leonard Cheshire and the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, suggests more assisted living places and a Step-Down facility are needed to facilitate the transition from discharge into the community for people living with Alcohol Related Brain Injury (ARBI) in Northern Ireland. ARBI is a brain disorder caused by a person regularly drinking too much alcohol, or binge-drinking. It causes memory and cognitive ability to decline over time, especially if the person drinks too much over many years.   

The findings are from a study into the Leonard Cheshire ARBI unit, to understand whether the unit improves the psychological, functional, social, and relational outcomes for patients living with ARBI.  

Other outcomes from the study include:  

• The Leonard Cheshire service could be extended to include community referrals for those who do not yet require hospitalisation, to significantly reduce the number of people requiring inpatient treatment and to reduce cost for the NHS. Also, an extended service could reduce the risk of individuals becoming involved with the judicial system. 
• The service should be expanded to all Health and Social Care Trusts across Northern Ireland. 
• It has been estimated that alcohol-related brain changes are present in 35% of those with alcohol dependency and affecting approximately 30,000 people in Northern Ireland. 

Anne Campbell commented: “This is an important study which indicated that service users demonstrated significantly improved physical, emotional and mental health and well-being during their stay at the Leonard Cheshire ARBI unit. It is also the first study in the UK which examined the qualitative narratives of patients, family members, carers, and workers in the ARBI sector.” 

Dr Joy Watson, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said: “This study supports the need to invest in these services. These patients are frequent attenders to emergency departments and can have long hospital stays. Providing these much needed interventions reduces the burden on health care yielding financial savings at the same time as improving and saving people’s lives which fits with quality, efficient and compassionate healthcare.”